Tom Dolan Heading For Date With Destiny At Bloody Foreland

4th May 2023

Tom Dolan's Figaro 3 Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan tacking to lee off the southwest coast in the early morning sunshine

Day Two: Meath maestro Tom Dolan's Figaro 3 Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan came past the Blasket Islands northward bound at noon today (Thursday) on his clockwise Round Ireland Solo Record Challenge, making excellent progress
in a brisk easterly wind that should carry him all the way to Ireland's northwest corner of Bloody Foreland, as the course alteration at Erris Head in northwest Mayo may see him getting the benefit of a distinct southeast twist to the wind across Donegal Bay.

Under current and forecast conditions, it rather looks as though, from Bloody Foreland onwards, things will become, well, perfectly bloody. It has been blowing a local easterly gale off Malin Head for some time now, and it seems in no great hurry to move on, though the general volatility of the developing weather in the bigger picture still makes all things possible.

So many factors are now involved in this enduringly fascinating great challenge of Irish sailing that we'll be wallowing in it in obsessive detail in this weekend's Sailing on Saturday. But meanwhile, the remarkable thing is that a north Meath farmer's son who emerged from among the rolling acres near Nobber to have a first sail on Lough Ramor with his Dad aboard a Miracle dinghy bought on eBay should now be a French sailing legend popularly and deservedly known as The Flying Irishman.

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WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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Tom Dolan, Solo Offshore Sailor

Even when County Meath solo sailor Tom Dolan had been down the numbers in the early stages of the four-stage 2,000 mile 2020 Figaro Race, Dolan and his boat were soon eating their way up through the fleet in any situation which demanded difficult tactical decisions.

His fifth overall at the finish – the highest-placed non-French sailor and winner of the Vivi Cup – had him right among the international elite in one of 2020's few major events.

The 33-year-old who has lived in Concarneau, Brittany since 2009 but grew up on a farm in rural County Meath came into the gruelling four-stage race aiming to get into the top half of the fleet and to underline his potential to Irish sailing administrators considering the selection process for the 2024 Olympic Mixed Double Offshore category which comes in for the Paris games.